Tuesday, July 06, 2004

"Sen. John Kerry is the clear favorite and at this point will be hard to beat. But Edwards more than rivals him in many ways and on many issues. We are also very troubled by how out of touch Kerry was with an economic development project — the proposed Excelsior Energy power plant that holds the potential of 1,000 construction jobs and 500 permanent jobs — on the Range. An energy bill currently being debated in Congress contains, because of the hard work of Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., $800 million in federal loan guarantees for the project that could serve as a vital catalyst for private investment in the $1.2 billion clean-energy coal gasification plant. Kerry was one of five senators who signed a letter last year calling the provision of loan guarantees for the Range project “pork.” That’s bull. To sign such a letter at the same time he is campaigning on investing in new jobs in the country makes him, on that issue, a “walking contradiction” — which is a label he has given to President George W. Bush.

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Trade: Kerry has been a strong supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has helped to terribly constrict the nation’s middle class, from the start. He now is trying to position himself as someone who will battle for fair trade and against the loss of American jobs. But he has been part of the problem, not the solution. It’s easy on this issue for Edwards to say he would have voted against NAFTA if he had been in the Senate back in 1993. He wasn’t. So who really knows?

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Too often, Kerry falls back into the murky Washington bureaucracy. That can come with the territory when you have been there for decades. That experience can certainly be a plus. But we believe there is a strong need at this time for someone to come not as beholden to that bureaucratic grip.
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"Senator John Edwards (D-NC) released the following statement today urging Senator John Kerry and the other presidential candidates to join him in rejecting campaign contributions from federally registered lobbyists:
"I welcome Senator Kerry's proposal. While it is a small and important first step, I believe we must go much further, and stop the corrosive influence of lobbyists walking around Washington with legislation in one hand and campaign cash in the other. That's why I have proposed banning contributions from Washington lobbyists to candidates running for federal office. Unlike Governor Dean, Congressman Gephardt, Senators Kerry and Lieberman, and President Bush, I have never taken a dime from Washington lobbyists and I never will. I challenge all the other candidates in the race to join me in an effort to truly stop the pervasive influence of Washington lobbyists by refusing to accept their contributions."